Interestingly, I noticed the opposite effect...
Seems to me that credits were once short and snazzy, but for the past
10-15 years are an art form in themselves (I'm not talking about effects
like Hitchcock's Psycho or Penn's Bonnie and Clyde; I'm talking about
length per se). After the break of the studio system, I think, freelancers
came on board to replace teams under contract.  This is my off-the-cuff
explanation that may be completely bogus. Then credits began to be the
time for setting the stage for the rest of the film, so that today many
films tell us by the time the credits have rolled more than we ever wanted
to know--or teased us into a mind-set totally at odds with the movie
(sometimes a clever and sometimes an annoying thing.) Now we have credits
for casting, which again, under the studio system, were redundant.
Another thing I've noticed is that the order of importance of those
credited has changed over the years.
 
 
 
Liora Moriel
Comparative Literature Program
University of Maryland
2107 Susquehanna Hall
College Park, MD 20742-8825
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"We have cooperated for a very long time in the maintenance of our own
invisibility.  And now the party is over."                - Vito Russo
 
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